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2024 Icelandic parliamentary election

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2024 Icelandic parliamentary election
Iceland
← 2021 30 November 2024

All 63 seats in the Althing
32 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Current seats
Independence Bjarni Benediktsson 17
Progressive Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson 13
Left-Green Svandís Svavarsdóttir 7
Social Democratic Kristrún Frostadóttir 6
People's Inga Sæland 5
Pirates Collective leadership 6
Reform Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir 5
Centre Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson 3
Greens Kikka Sigurðardóttir 1
Incumbent Prime Minister
Bjarni Benediktsson
Independence

Parliamentary elections are due to be held in Iceland on 30 November 2024 to elect the 63 members of the Althing.

Background

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Previous election

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The 2021 parliamentary election took place on 25 September, a month before the latest date allowed by law. The government coalition of the Left-Green Movement, the Progressive Party and the Independence Party, led by prime minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, had been in place since the 2017 elections. This unusual coalition of parties from the left wing, the center and the right wing of Icelandic mainstream politics maintained its majority in parliament in the elections as the Independence Party had the same number of seats as before while the Progressive Party added 5 seats and the Left-Green movement lost 3. As for the opposition parties, the People's Party gained two seats and the Reform Party gained 1 seat. The Pirate Party held steady but the Social Democratic Alliance lost 1 seat and the Centre Party lost 4 of its seats in parliament. The Icelandic Socialist Party received 4.1% of the vote but no seats as 5% of the national vote is needed to eligible for the allocation of leveling seats.

The coalition partners from the previous term soon decided that the first option for coalition talks should be to renew their coalition. The second cabinet of Katrín Jakobsdóttir was then formed on 28 November.[1][2]

Fall of government

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In April 2024, Katrín Jakobsdóttir resigned to contest the 2024 Icelandic presidential election, which she lost. She was succeeded as prime minister by Bjarni Benediktsson.[3]

On 13 October, prime minister Bjarni Benediktsson announced that the government had collapsed due to disputes over foreign policy, asylum seekers, and energy, prompting him to call for new elections and ask President Halla Tómasdóttir the next day to dissolve the Althingi and set the elections for 30 November.[3][4] In particular, Bjarni cited "how different the Movement's vision for the future is, compared to what I want to stand for".[5]

Electoral system

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The 63 members of the Althing are elected by open list proportional representation in six multi-member constituencies, with 54 seats distributed between parties at the constituency level with no electoral threshold and 9 leveling seats assigned to party lists at the national level in order to ensure proportionality with the election result, with a threshold of 5 percent required.[6] The 54 constituency seats are distributed within each constituency according to the D'Hondt method.[7] Election lists are determined by parties; although voters have the option of altering the order of candidates or striking out particular candidates entirely, this rarely has any effect on the result.[6]

The number of voters per parliamentary seat varies significantly between the constituencies of Iceland. The number of seats per constituency was determined by law in 1999 and is not updated before each election except when the number of voters per representative in the most represented constituency reaches half the number of voters per representative in the least represented constituency. The constitution stipulates that in this case, a constituency seat should be transferred from the most represented constituency to the least represented constituency. This has happened twice since 1999, in both cases transferring a constituency seat from the Northwest constituency (a large rural constituency) to the Southwest constituency (a relatively small constituency in area, adjoining the capital city). In the 2021 election, the number of eligible voters for each seat in the Southwest was 5671.5, more than double the 2693.5 eligible voters for each seat in the Northwest. According to the constitution this means another transfer of a constituency seat from the Northwest to the Southwest before the next parliamentary election.

Date

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Per Article 23 in Chapter V of Act No. 112 from the 25 June 2021 Elections Law, elections must be held no later than the same weekday of the month four years after the previous elections, counting from the turn of the month;[8] therefore, because the 2021 election took place on the fourth Saturday in September, the latest possible date for the election was 27 September 2025.

Following the collapse of the government in October 2024, the election is set to be held on 30 November.[9]

Political parties

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The table below lists political parties participating in the election. This list also includes the percentages and Althing seats of the parties after the 2021 parliamentary election.

Name Ideology Position Leader 2021 result
Votes (%) Seats
D Independence Party
Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn
Conservatism
Economic liberalism
Centre-right Bjarni Benediktsson 24.4%
16 / 63
B Progressive Party
Framsóknarflokkurinn
Nordic agrarianism
Liberalism
Centre to centre-right Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson 17.3%
13 / 63
V Left-Green Movement
Vinstrihreyfingin – grænt framboð
Democratic socialism
Eco-socialism
Centre-left to left-wing Svandís Svavarsdóttir 12.6%
8 / 63
S Social Democratic Alliance
Samfylkingin
Social democracy
Pro-Europeanism
Centre-left Kristrún Frostadóttir 9.9%
6 / 63
F People's Party
Flokkur fólksins
Populism
Disability rights
Centre[a] Inga Sæland 8.8%
6 / 63
P Pirate Party
Píratar
Pirate politics Syncretic None 8.6%
6 / 63
C Liberal Reform Party
Viðreisn
Liberalism
Green liberalism
Centre to centre-right Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir 8.3%
5 / 63
M Centre Party
Miðflokkurinn
Conservatism
Populism
Nordic agrarianism
Centre-right to right-wing Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson 5.4%
3 / 63
J Icelandic Socialist Party
Sósíalistaflokkur Íslands
Socialism
Democratic socialism
Left-wing Gunnar Smári 4.1%
0 / 63
Y Responsible Future
Ábyrg framtíð
Right-libertarianism
Anti-vaccination
Right-wing Jóhannes Loftsson [is] 0.1%
0 / 63
L Democratic Party
Lýðræðisflokkurinn
Libertarian conservatism
Right-libertarianism
Right-wing Arnar Þór Jónsson Did not exist

Opinion polls

[edit]
  D
  B
  V
  S
  F
  P
  C
  M
  J
Polling firm Fieldwork date Sample size Resp. Parties
Government Opposition Oth. Lead
D B V S F P C M J L
Prósent 1-7 Nov 2024 2,400 50.0 12.3 5.8 2.6 21.6 11.5 5.7 17.1 15.1 6.7 1.4 0.2 4.5
Gallup 1-31 Oct 2024 12,125 47.5 17.3 6.5 4.1 23.8 7.8 5.4 13.5 16.5 4.5 0.6 6.5
Prósent 25–31 Oct 2024 2,400 14.1 5.8 2.6 22.3 11.2 4.9 18.5 14.4 4.0 1.5 0.9 3.8
Maskína 22-28 Oct 2024 1,708 13.9 6.9 3.8 22.2 9.3 4.5 16.2 15.9 4.0 1.6 1.7 6.0
Prósent 18-24 Oct 2024 2,500 50.0 13.3 5.8 2.4 24.2 11.4 5.8 15.0 16.1 4.3 1.1 8.1
Prósent 18 Oct 2024 15.6 6.2 2.2 24.8 10.8 6.1 14.1 15.1 4.2 9.2
Maskína 13–18 Oct 2024 14.1 8 5.1 21.9 7.3 5.2 13.4 17.7 5.2 2.1 4.2
Prósent 18 Sep–3 Oct 2024 2,150 50.8 12 5 3 26 11 9 11 18 4 Did not exist 8
Gallup 30 Aug–30 Sep 2024 11,138 48.3 14.1 6.2 4.3 26.2 7.5 7.6 10.3 18.7 5.2 7.5
Maskína 24 Sep 2024 1,783 13.4 7.6 3.7 25.0 8.8 8.5 11.3 17.0 4.7 8.0
Gallup 1–29 Aug 2024 10,780 46.8 17.1 7.0 3.4 26.4 6.7 7.8 10.1 16.0 5.7 9.3
Maskína 7–27 Aug 2024 1,730 13.9 9.0 4.6 25.5 7.1 8.6 10.7 15.3 5.2 10.2
Gallup 1–30 Jul 2024 9,306 45.9 17.2 7.2 3.5 27.6 8.6 7.8 8.8 14.6 4.7 10.4
Gallup 3–30 Jun 2024 8,786 47.3 18.5 6.6 4.0 26.9 7.7 8.8 9.4 14.5 3.5 8.4
Maskína 31 May–20 Jun 2024 1,846 14.7 10.2 5.0 27.1 5.0 9.3 10.1 12.7 5.9 12.4
Gallup 30 Apr–2 Jun 2024 12,731 50.2 18.0 9.1 3.3 29.9 6.1 8.8 7.7 13.5 3.7 11.9
Maskína 30 Apr–23 May 2024 3,349 17.5 10.4 5.1 27.3 5.6 8.4 9.3 12.6 3.9 9.8
Háskóli Íslands 22–30 Apr 2024 2,638 19.0 10.0 4.3 25.4 7.3 8.1 7.9 13.4 4.4 0.2 6.4
Gallup 3–28 Apr 2024 9,925 48.1 18.0 8.8 4.4 29.7 7.2 8.2 7.5 12.8 3.4 11.7
Maskína 5–16 Apr 2024 1,746 17.2 10.7 5.0 27.3 5.3 8.5 10.2 11.6 4.1 10.1
Gallup 1 Mar–2 Apr 2024 18.2 7.3 5.6 30.9 6.2 7.8 7.1 12.9 3.9 12.7
Maskína 6–12 Mar 2024 1,753 18.0 9.4 6.7 25.6 5.7 9.5 9.7 11.9 3.5 7.6
Gallup 1–29 Feb 2024 9,964 48.1 19.9 8.8 4.7 28.2 6.8 8.0 7.5 12.8 3.5 8.3
Maskína 7–27 Feb 2024 1,706 18.4 8.5 5.9 27.2 6.4 9.0 9.2 11.1 4.3 8.8
Gallup 2–31 Jan 2024 10,503 46.9 18.2 8.4 5.5 30.6 7.9 8.1 7.0 10.9 3.4 12.4
Maskína 10–15 Jan 2024 1,936 16.6 10.3 5.7 25.7 6.5 7.6 11.7 11.8 4.1 9.1
Gallup 1 Dec 2023 – 1 Jan 2024 9,636 48.9 18.1 9.4 6.0 28.4 6.8 9.1 8.8 9.7 3.6 10.3
Maskína 19–27 Dec 2023 1,945 17.3 9.9 5.6 26.3 6.8 8.1 12.2 9.4 4.3 9.0
Gallup 1–30 Nov 2023 9,721 47.8 19.8 8.6 5.1 28.1 6.9 9.3 7.9 9.4 4.2 8.3
Maskína 3–7 Nov & 23–26 Nov 2023 2,376 17.9 10.4 6.1 26.0 6.4 10.0 10.3 8.4 4.4 8.1
Gallup 2–31 Oct 2023 10,463 49.8 20.5 7.4 6.0 29.1 6.5 10.2 7.5 8.6 4.1 8.6
Maskína 12–24 Oct 2023 1,935 17.7 9.8 5.9 27.8 6.1 10.8 9.3 8.2 4.3 10.1
Gallup 1 Sep–3 Oct 2023 11,005 48.5 20.4 8.1 5.7 30.1 5.7 9.6 7.9 8.6 3.9 9.7
Maskína 15–29 Sep 2023 1,466 19.6 8.8 6.5 24.4 6.5 10.8 11.6 7.0 4.8 4.8
Gallup 1–31 August 2023 10,076 49.5 21.1 7.5 5.9 28.5 6.3 10.3 7.2 8.7 4.4 7.4
Maskína 17–22 August 2023 954 17.6 9.2 6.4 26.1 5.9 13.1 9.5 7.9 4.2 8.5
Gallup 3–30 July 2023 10,491 46.1 21.0 8.9 6.1 28.6 5.7 10.5 7.0 8.5 3.6 7.6
Maskína 6–24 July 2023 836 19.3 9.6 8.0 25.3 6.0 11.0 10.4 5.9 4.5 6.0
Prósent 22 June–22 July 2023 2,300 51.8 16.1 7.1 7.3 27.4 8.5 14.5 8.9 7.2 2.9 11.3
Gallup 1 June–2 July 2023 11,331 48.8 20.8 8.7 6.2 28.4 5.7 9.7 8.1 7.8 4.6 7.6
Maskína 1–22 June 2023 1,691 18.5 8.8 7.0 27.2 6.6 11.3 9.7 6.3 4.7 8.7
Gallup 2–31 May 2023 10,316 48.2 20.8 10.2 5.7 28.4 5.5 10.1 7.6 6.9 4.9 7.6
Maskína 4–16 May 2023 1,726 19.2 10.0 6.1 27.3 5.6 11.0 9.1 6.4 5.2 8.1
Gallup 3 Apr–1 May 2023 9,916 48.7 21.9 9.6 6.6 27.8 6.0 10.0 7.4 6.2 4.3 5.9
Maskína 13–19 Apr 2023 852 18.7 10.2 8.2 25.7 4.4 11.4 10.6 6.0 4.9 7.0
Gallup 1 Mar–2 Apr 2023 1,128 22.3 9.9 7.1 25.1 5.6 9.4 9.1 6.3 5.1 2.8
Maskína 6–20 Mar 2023 1,599 20.2 13.2 6.0 24.4 5.2 10.2 9.1 5.7 6.0 4.2
Gallup 1–28 Feb 2023 9,517 49.6 22.5 10.8 6.8 24.0 5.6 12.1 7.7 5.3 5.0 1.5
Maskína 3–13 Feb 2023 1,892 20.1 12.3 6.7 23.3 5.9 12.7 8.2 5.8 5.0 2.2
Prósent 27 Jan–6 Feb 2023 2,400 51.4 23.2 11.8 5.9 22.1 9.5 12.5 6.9 4.1 4.1 1.1
Maskína 13–18 Jan 2023 804 21.8 12.1 8.3 23.6 5.1 10.4 9.1 5.9 3.6 1.8
Gallup 6–31 Jan 2023 9,842 48.5 23.5 11.3 6.8 25.3 5.5 10.4 7.3 5.5 4.4 1.8
Gallup 1 Dec 2022–2 Jan 2023 7,115 48.0 23.8 12.1 6.8 23.4 6.2 11.3 6.9 4.6 4.6 0.2
Prósent 22–30 Dec 2022 4,000 49.6 23.2 10.8 6.7 20.5 9.7 14.3 6.2 4.5 4.0 2.7
Maskína 16–28 Dec 2022 1,703 20.0 12.2 7.8 20.1 7.0 12.5 7.5 6.7 6.1 0.1
Gallup 1–30 Nov 2022 10,798 50.8 24.1 12.2 7.5 21.1 4.5 12.2 7.4 5.6 5.2 3.0
Maskína 4–22 Nov 2022 2,483 21.8 14.8 7.1 19.0 5.0 13.4 9.0 4.9 5.0 2.8
Prósent 14–17 Nov 2022 2,600 51.3 21.1 14.6 8.0 19.1 6.4 11.8 10.6 4.2 4.2 2.0
Gallup 3–31 Oct 2022 8,267 49.9 24.4 13.8 8.4 16.6 5.3 12.9 8.4 5.0 5.0 7.8
Maskína 30 Sep–17 Oct 2022 1,638 22.8 15.0 7.7 14.4 4.6 14.3 9.5 5.0 6.5 7.8
Gallup 1 Sep–2 Oct 2022 11,149 48.3 24.1 13.4 8.2 16.3 5.1 13.6 8.5 5.4 5.1 7.8
Maskína 16–27 Sep 2022 1,875 20.8 15.6 8.7 15.2 5.0 12.3 10.4 5.3 6.8 5.2
Gallup 2–31 Aug 2022 10,719 48.9 21.8 15.6 8.4 15.5 5.6 14.8 8.4 4.6 5.1 6.2
Maskína 12–17 Aug 2022 890 20.9 19.6 7.5 12.9 4.6 13.9 8.9 4.5 7.3 1.3
Gallup 1 Jul–1 Aug 2022 9,705 49.0 22.1 15.4 8.6 13.7 6.6 15.0 8.6 4.4 5.3 6.7
Maskína 20–25 Jul 2022 895 24.4 18.0 7.7 10.9 6.9 12.7 8.3 6.0 5.1 6.4
Gallup 2–30 Jun 2022 10,274 61.7 22.8 17.5 7.2 13.7 7.0 16.1 6.7 4.6 4.1 5.3
Maskína 1–23 Jun 2022 1,658 19.3 18.3 8.5 13.4 6.3 14.6 8.8 4.7 6.1 1.0
Prósent 2–13 Jun 2022 1,780 50.1 18.5 17.3 9.0 13.5 5.6 17.5 7.8 4.2 6.3 2.2
Gallup 2–31 May 2022 10,548 51.9 20.1 17.5 8.1 14.1 6.4 14.7 9.5 4.3 5.0 2.6
Prósent 13–26 Apr 2022 3,500 50.3 17.9 12.4 9.6 16.8 8.0 16.2 9.6 4.1 5.4 1.1
Gallup 1–30 Apr 2022 9,828 50.1 19.8 15.6 10.1 13.7 7.7 14.5 9.6 4.1 4.6 4.2
Maskína 17 Mar–12 Apr 2022 1,367 22.4 15.5 8.8 13.0 7.7 13.2 10.5 4.2 4.6 6.9
Gallup 1–31 Mar 2022 10,941 49.6 22.7 18.0 11.4 11.2 8.2 11.9 9.1 3.7 3.6 4.7
Gallup 1–28 Feb 2022 9,672 49.7 21.9 18.1 10.5 11.1 7.5 13.2 9.7 3.9 3.9 3.8
Maskína 28 Jan–16 Feb 2022 3,039 21.9 16.9 12.9 13.4 7.6 10.3 9.7 3.9 3.5 5.0
Gallup 1–31 Jan 2022 10,911 50.4 22.4 17.0 10.7 10.8 8.8 12.5 9.4 3.7 4.3 5.4
Maskína 6–19 Jan 2022 1,548 20.1 17.8 11.2 12.3 8.5 13.5 9.2 3.7 3.7 3.3
Gallup 1–30 Dec 2021 7,890 51.2 23.3 17.7 10.6 10.5 8.6 12.5 8.7 3.4 4.5 5.6
Gallup 1–30 Nov 2021 10,000 51.0 22.7 17.0 13.0 10.7 8.0 11.8 8.4 3.8 4.4 5.7
Gallup 1–31 Oct 2021 8,899 50.6 22.8 17.2 13.4 9.8 7.9 11.0 8.9 4.3 4.6 5.6
MMR 12–18 Oct 2021 967 21.1 17.9 12.1 10.1 7.8 11.7 10.0 3.2 5.5 3.2
2021 parliamentary election 25 Sep 2021 24.4 17.3 12.6 9.9 8.9 8.6 8.3 5.5 4.1 0.5 7.1

Notes

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  1. ^ The party is described as fiscally centre-left and culturally/ethically right-wing

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Iceland's left-right coalition agrees to take another term". Reuters. 28 November 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  2. ^ "Katrin Jakobsdottir, Iceland's Staunch Feminist PM, Begins Second Term". Voice of America. 28 November 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Iceland PM calls new election as coalition government collapses". Al Jazeera. 13 October 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  4. ^ "Iceland appears headed for a snap election after governing coalition collapses". Associated Press. 14 October 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  5. ^ "Iceland's government coalition collapses, new elections to be held in November". Le Monde. 13 October 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  6. ^ a b Ísland, Alþingiskosningar, 27. April 2013: Úttektarskýrsla (Report). OSCE/ODIHR. 24 June 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  7. ^ "Útreikningar við úthlutun jöfnunarsæta". Kosningavefur Dómsmála- og Mannréttindaráðuneytisins. 27 April 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  8. ^ "112/2021: Kosningalög". Alþingi. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  9. ^ https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/10/13/iceland-s-government-coalition-collapses-new-elections-to-be-held-in-november_6729282_4.html